Are Your Ears Burning?- 20 Tools for Tracking Social Media Marketing

Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter make it easy for people to come together and share opinions, experiences and thoughts on a number of topics. Smart companies understand this and are using the power of social media to connect and inform their customers, and potential customers. Referred to as "Social Media Marketing", it's a smart way to open the lines of communication between you and your prospects.
Social media activities run the gamut from Blogging, micro blogging sites such as Twitter, social networking communities such as LinkedIn and Facebook, video and music uploading sites, discussion forums, photo sharing and more. With so many different sites and ways to participate, it can be difficult to keep track of all your efforts.
Participating in social media doesn't take a lot of money, but it is very time consuming and businesses want to know that all of this investment in time is paying off. Before launching a campaign, you should have a firm grasp on what it is you're trying to accomplish. Is it increasing website traffic? Getting more ezine subscribers? Having more people download your free ebook or whitepaper? Or maybe you just want to work on your company's brand image. Whatever it is, you need to have a plan. As the old saying goes, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there”. Have your game plan intact before getting started in marketing yourself, or your company with social media.
There are many different forms of social media, so it's impossible to use them all. Pick three or four, and funnel the majority of your efforts there. Even if you won't be working them all, at the very least you should claim your name or company name on as many social services as possible. You don't want to find out later that someone has the user name that you want. If you need to see if your chosen user name is available try http://Namechk.com which checks dozens of social media networking and bookmarking sites all at once to see if it's available. Claim your name now so you won't end up being sorry later.
So how do you monitor all the buzz? How do you monitor your brand and protect your hard earned reputation? I thought you'd never ask. There isn't one fool-proof method but there are many services and tools out there that will make it easy to see who's talking about you online. Some are free and others will make you pull out your wallet.
These "online reputation management" tools, as they're often referred to, will help you to  define keywords, or phrases you wish to track and then watches for any mention of your company name, products, or services. It's important to defend and monitor your online reputation. Similar to High School reputations, protecting your image online is the name of the game, and just as in real life, everyone has one to maintain.
Let's take a look at some of the measuring and tracking tools at your disposal:
1)http://BackTweets.com : A search engine for Twitter. See who's tweeting your links and more. Can also sign up for email alerts of new findings.
2) http://Addictomatic.com : A little different than the others , you type in a keyword, topic or phrase and out it goes searching the top blogs, news sites, Google, Technorati, Ask, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Topix and more. You'll be given a personalized results page to bookmark with everything it finds related to your topic.
3) http://Buzzoo.net : All about Internet buzz, it tracks several different websites to bring you what's "hot" right now.
4) http://Surchur.com : Search for the latest and greatest on topics that are popular right now. Type in a keyphrase and it searches blogs, social news sites, photo and video sites for your chosen topic.
5) http://Commentful.Blogflux.com : This service watches for comments on blog posts, Digg, Flickr, and others and notifies you of any findings.
6) http://AlertRank.com : A better way to organize and sort Google alerts. Get a daily report emailed to you in a spreadsheet format of what it finds.
7) http://BoardTracker.com : A search engine for forums only. Monitor discussion boards and be notified by email when a thread matching your search terms is discovered. Free to use.
8) http://www.google.com/alerts : I've been using this "secret weapon" for years. Simply type in your name or company name and receive daily emails of results found. They do the work, you receive the links. Free and nice.
9) http://BrandsEye.com : An online reputation management tool with a real-time, concise overview of your online reputation. Multiple levels of services and pricing available. Starting at $1.00.
10) http://Twazzup.com : Another Twitter only search engine.
11) http://SiteMention.com : Type in your url and find out what's being said about you. The results returned are gathered from Google Blog Search, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, MySpace, Digg, Delicious and many more.
12) http://Brandwatch.net: This service tracks your brands, companies, even the ompetition. Sign up for free weekly updates on any brand. Their detailed reports break down what sites like you, your most talked about features, weekly summary of all blogs and forum activity. Very similar to the old "press clipping" service.
13) http://Trackur.com : A tool that scans many websites including blogs, news, image and video sites, forums and notifies you of any mention of your brand, products/services. Easy to use and affordable. Prices vary depending on need, a personal account is only $18.00 a month, corporate account $88.00 a month with other options also available. Try a "personal" account free for 14 days.
14) http://FiltrBox.com : This one searches online news sources, Twitter and others to find out what's being said about you or your company. Pricing is based on the number of users, but there is a free version that provides "5 filters" and 15 days of what they call "article history".
15) http://SocialMention.com/alerts : Just like Google Alerts but for social media. Enter your keyword phrase and email address to be notified of any new findings. Searches blogs, microblogs like Twitter, bookmarks, comments, events, images, news, videos and more.
16) http://BlogPulse.com : A search engine that searches only for data posted to blogs. Enter your keyword, hit submit and off it goes to gather results.
17) http://BackType.com : Billing itself as a "conversational search engine" they index millions of conversations from social networks, blogs and other social media.
18) http://sm2.techrigy.com : Industry insiders claim this to be the leading social media monitoring solution online. Choice of free or paid version. Free is limited to five searches and 1,000 results. There are three paid professional levels: Gold, Diamond, or Platinum.
19) http://ReputationDefender.com : This paid service finds out everything there is to know about you online, and if negative information is found they try to have it removed. Different types of plans are available such as "My Reputation", "My Privacy", starting at only $14.95 a month.
20) http://Topsy.com : Topsy will track your tweets that have been retweeted so you can find out who's been sending you all that "link love". Type in your Twitter user name and you'll be amazed at what you find.
If you'd like to track incoming traffic from your various social media profiles, an easy way to do it using Google Analytics can be found here http://Tinyurl.com/kuc9rL
Just as there are many ways to market your company using social media, as you can see, there's a multitude of tools and services at your disposal to track and see if all of that hard work is paying off. Smart companies realize the importance of social media in their marketing efforts and are utilizing it on some level. How smart are you?
Posted by Merle at Friday, January 08, 2010

Marketing in the New Technological Eco-System

Image by Josh Russell via Flickr

There is a whole technological Ecosystem developing before our eyes, that we can either ignore; adapt to slowly at our own pace (recommended!); or race to embrace. These new methods of network marketing provide us with everything from enhanced lead generation, to high level CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Knowing that many industries are slow to move in the technological arena, I am confident that this "Snapshot" will be eye-opening to many of you!
Our Top 5 Sites for Social Networking and Micro-Blogging
These are not just communication devices to chat from, they generate leads and help close sales by increasing exposure and developing relationships. Another purpose they serve is to improve your organic ranking, as search engines are now sending traffic to your site based on these social networking "traffic sources". Here are just a few to consider...
1. LinkedIn - Use LinkedIn for business referrals and leads. A great way to introduce men to your business. This business-oriented site is used for professional networking and has a primary demographic of males averaging 41 years of age. Your developed "connections" are people you know and trust in the business. Your connections, connections & their connections (called second degree and third degree connections) allow you to be introduced to possible business opportunities. You can join relevant alumni, industry, or professional groups of your choice.
2. Twitter - Use Twitter to notify your clients of latest business developments; promotions and business initiatives. Demographic of 35-49 is biggest. This "follow-me" site allows you to put in up to 140 characters which are displayed on your profile page and delivered to those who have subscribed to, or are following you. You can restrict or allow open access to your "tweets". It's free unless you use SMS (short message service). 6 million unique visitors monthly. Currently the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for 2009. Although discovered by the media, still under 7% of the population uses it, but growth over last year was a whopping 1,382% .
3. BizNik - Use BizNik to establish yourself as an expert in your industry through articles and content. BizNik is for people building real businesses. It's a good place to go to share conversation about your business and entrepreneurial endeavours. The site is based on relationships, not referrals. You can teach a seminar; post on the boards; download your articles; host an online event; attend an online event, etc.
4. Facebook - Use Facebook to "tap into the fountain of youth". Join in by city; workplace; school, etc. You can choose your friends and use privacy settings which allow you to control what type of information is automatically shared. The most popular application is the ability to upload unlímited photos. You can now also send "gifts" for $1.00 with a personalized message to your friends; and post free classified ads to those in your network. 228% growth year over year, with the fastest growing demographic being those 25 years and older.
5. MySpace - Use MySpace to recruit, educate, introduce and boost awareness of your business and industry as a whole. One of the fastest growing websites of all time, with the primary user being 18 years of age and older. This interactive network is a user-submitted site of friends, groups, videos, musicians, photos, blogs, etc. You can use "bulletins" to deliver your message; designated groups can share a common page and message board; full service classified listings are available; you can upload recordings, and much more.
More options... bebo.com; care2.com; classmates.com; del.icio.us; digg.com; flickr.com; friendster.com; meetup.com; orkut.com; ryze.com; stumbleupon.com; yahoo!360; xanga.com; to over 100! And once you have made those decisions, consider these next two systems that are here and should be "coming down your pipes" SOON...
Mobile Marketing
This is the ability to reach consumers on their mobile devices, "where they are", with incentive advertising and email campaigns. Still in its early stages, perfecting mobile-friendly formats and savvy ways to deliver your message to this captive audience will require a unique approach and your research. Studies show that ad agencies big and small are all rushing to develop mobile-based promotional tools - it's going to be huge and it's coming fast. It's time for you to catch up with exploding consumer online demands. Still only 19% of mobile users have used mobile marketing, but critics say that it increases consumer awareness by up to 24% and increases intent to purchase by almost 5% - that's good... Start capturing new data, preferences and interest levels from clients now! Some stats: 3.3 billion people worldwide have mobile phones. Over 200 million operate phones with text messaging capabilities in North America. Over 174 million have phones capable of browsing the web in North America Check out: www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/lib/1718.pdf
The Virtual Office
Your office must be wherever you are - you can conduct business from almost anywhere today. If you're on the move, you'll need a cell phone/smart phone/personal digital assistant with wireless web. While on the go, use instant messaging and social networking sites to alert, modify, and monitor staff and client wants and needs, on the spot. Your virtual office might consist of some, or all of these:

• Videoconferencing and/or teleconferencing combined with presentation software that will allow you to communicate with several people in real time, worldwide;
• Live streaming video enables the user to view in real time, anything from a demonstration of services, to an onsite, hands-on educational program;
• Web-hosted scheduling and booking tools will allow you to manage appointments online;
• Blogs, eNews and Forums are important informational tools to help endorse your brand;
• Web conferencing (webinars) make it simple to hold live interactive seminars with anyone at any time;
• Podcasts are great marketing tools as well as a great educational means for teaching and training staff and your target markets;
• Online video has climbed 340% in recent years, as a means to introduce; learn; and sell from;
• Online sales (shop with us) are fast becoming necessary as a passive, supplementary revenue stream in the business environment.

If necessary, consider hiring a Virtual Assistant/Cyber Assistant (VA/CA - just Google) and get help with new ways on getting things done in a cyber-environment. Enjoy!

By author: Leslie Lyon

Who Tweets? A Twitter Census (PC World)

Image by luc legay via Flickr

American Twitter users are predominately young, poor, blog-centric, social-network-happy urbanites who like to read the news on their mobile devices, according to the The Pew Internet and American Life Project. The PIAP released a report yesterday called "Twitter and Status Updating" that discusses who uses Twitter or similar services, and how that choice impacts their daily life. According to the paper, only 11 percent of online American adults are Tweeting, but their average age is much higher than other social network users and they have a preference for mobile technology. The Pew Center researchers arrived at their numbers by conducting phone interviews with 2,253 adult Americans (502 of which were on a cell phone) between November 19, 2008 and December 20, 2008.
An important note: Pew's (and my) references to "Twitter users" really means anyone who regularly updates her or his status through any number of services such as Twitter, Yammer, Facebook, MySpace, or even LinkedIn. Perhaps we should give them a more generic name like status updaters, but Twitter users or Tweeters sounds so much better, don't you think?
Portrait of a Tweeter
Surprisingly, and unlike many other social networks, the average Tweeter is 31. By comparison, MySpace has an average age of 27; Facebook is a little younger at 26; while LinkedIn is the social network of choice for those in their 40s. In the tweetosphere, 25- to 34-year-olds hold a slight majority over 19- to 24-year-olds by about 1 percent. With age comes money in our society, and that litle tidbit of truthiness is reflected among tweeters as well. According to PIAP, 17 percent of adult Internet users who make $30,000 or less also tweet, while only 10 percent of households making $75,000 or more broadcast their status into cyberspace. This is not particularly suprising as the memo points out, since the younger generation typically earns less money than older folks.
Tweeters are also more ethnically diverse and more likely to live in a city. Neither statistic is suprising as American youths are more ethnically diverse than older Americans. Twitter most likely appeals more to those in the urban jungle because city social lives are typically more active and less centralized than in rural areas.
Tweeters embrace social media
What I found most interesting from the PIAP memo was the fact that tweeters are using their status updates as one piece of a much larger social media landscape. In other words, Twitter is an add-on for other social media. This is not all that surprising, since Twitter welcomes third-party developers to create other uses for Twitter, such as broadcasting your tweets into your Facebook status, blog, or other web page. About 23 percent of social network users tweet, with only 4 percent of non-social networkers do the same.
Tweeters are also more likely to consume and read blogs than other Internet users. Fifty-seven percent of tweeters have read a blog, and 21 percent said yes when asked if they read a blog yesterday. By comparison, only 9 percent of non-tweeters said they read a blog yesterday and only 29 percent have ever read a blog. The statistic gets even wider when talking about blog creators: 29 percent of tweeters have created a blog, while only 11 percent of the Twitterless have ventured into the world of Wordpress and Moveable Type.
Other Tweeter facts
The PIAP memo also says that tweeters are big on wireless devices, including laptops, cell phones, smartphones, and PDAs. They are more likely to read the news online and typically they'll do it on a mobile device. Tweeting is a great way to share a news story or some other little tidbit you found on the internet. Services like TinyURL or Snurl also make it easier to Tweet your discoveries since they shorten long web addresses, allowing tweeters to maxmize their 140 character per message limit.
Tweeters may only make up a small percentage of online users at the moment, but I wonder if this is a trend that is likely to continue and expand. Recenlty, NPR's On The Media took a trip to Japan to study the Japanese love affair with mobile devices . The Japanese use their phone regularly for everything from boarding a plane to paying for simple purchases; most interestingly, however, the mobile device is the primary and sometimes only gateway onto the Internet for the average Japanese citizen. There are a variety of reasons for this including the way their digital culture developed and financial constraints, but I wonder if U.S. tweeters are simply ahead of the curve and one day, like the Japanese, Americans will give up their personal computers and get online primarily through their BlackBerrys and iPhones.

Gabor Keller - Connected Contacts

Link to My Ecademy

Using Linkedin As A Small Business Owner

Image via CrunchBase

The philosophy of most small businesses is the same for Linkedin.com ….
Relationships Matter
Sounds familiar right? As a small business owner, you get it. Success is usually linked to the professional relationships you build over time. So the theory is that the more relationships you have, the more success can come your way. Who can argue with that?
So, what exactly is Linkedin.com?

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 30 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries.
When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you.
Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

Here’s a short video about what Linkedin.com is and how you can use it to create more relationships, and more success for your small business.

LinkedIn May Be Right for Your Business

Image via CrunchBase

By Chris Crum - Fri, 11/14/2008 - 12:37pm.
The Social Nework of Choice for Many Business Owners
LinkedIn is the preferred social network of many business professionals. It's not the only one by any means, and some people will tell you it's not the best, but studies show that it is the favorite among business owners.
Mike Sachoff recently reported on a study that also found a direct correlation between LinkedIn use and personal wealth. He wrote:

The study found a direct relationship between the number of connections and high personal income. Those members with personal incomes between $200K-$350K were seven times more likely than others to have over 150 connections.
The survey found that senior executives, who make up about 8.4 million members, have the highest average personal income with $104,000. Savvy networkers, also described as consultants have the second highest averaged income with $93,500 and consist of 9 million LinkedIn members.
I wrote about this and some other LinkedIn related information, all pointing to it being a network that business owners can turn to for networking purposes. Today I came across a helpful video at Small Business Trends, that shows you just how to go about using LinkedIn to benefit your business.
Experienced social networking folks, probably won't gain a whole lot from watching the video, but for those of you who haven't really gotten your feet wet, the video should prove to be a good watch. Comments on Small Business Trends indicate that a number of people have found it quite useful.
LinkedIn is all about relationship building, which is a fundamental element of small business growth. While there are a number of other networks you can use to build relationships, LinkedIn tends to cater to business professionals more than some of the other ones. If you like other networks better for business use, please feel free to let us know in the comments.
About the author:
Chris is a content coordinator and staff writer for SmallBusinessNewz and the iEntry Network. Subscribe to SmallBusinessNewz RSS Feeds.

Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn | Guy Kawasaki

Image via CrunchBase

by:Mario Sundar
When Guy Kawasaki blogged about the Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn, LinkedIn had 8.5 million users in 130 industries. Since then we’ve grown to over 12 million users covering 147 industries, but many of Guy’s suggestions on using LinkedIn (see below), still remain a great way for professionals to strengthen their online brand reputation and leverage their professional network. Happy Reading!

1. Increase your visibility.
   By adding connections, you increase the likelihood that people will see your profile first when they’re searching for someone to hire or do business with. In addition to appearing at the top of search results  (which is a major plus if you’re one of the 52,000 product managers on LinkedIn), people would much rather work with people who their friends know and trust.
   
2. Improve your connectability.
   Most new users put only their current company in their profile. By doing so, they severely limit their ability to connect with people. You should fill out your profile like it’s an executive bio, so include
   past companies, education, affiliations, and activities.
   You can also include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit is that the link enables people to see all your credentials, which would be awkward if not downright strange, as
   an attachment.
   
3. Improve your Google PageRank.
   LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index. Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high PageRank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.
   To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name. To strengthen the visibility of this page in
   search engines, use this link in various places on the web> For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.
   
4. Enhance your search engine results.
   In addition to your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few pre-selected categories like “My Website,” “My Company,” etc.
   If you select “Other” you can modify the name of the link. If you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link, and voila! instant search-engine optimization for your site. To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”
   
5. Perform blind, “reverse,” and company reference checks.
   LinkedIn’s reference check tool to input a company name and the years the person worked at the company to search for references. Your search will find the people who worked at the company during the same time period. Since references provided by a candidate will generally be glowing, this is a good way to get more balanced data.
   Companies will typically check your references before hiring you, but have you ever thought of checking your prospective manager’s references? Most interviewees don’t have the audacity to ask a
   potential boss for references, but with LinkedIn you have a way to scope her out.
   You can also check up on the company itself by finding the person who used to have the job that you’re interviewing for. Do this by searching for job title and company, but be sure to uncheck “Current titles only.” By contacting people who used to hold the position, you can get the inside scoop on the job, manager and growth potential.
   By the way, if using LinkedIn in these ways becomes a common practice, we’re apt to see more truthful resumes. There’s nothing more amusing than to find out that the candidate who claims to have caused some huge success was a total bozo who was just along for the ride.
   
6. Increase the relevancy of your job search.
   Use LinkedIn’s advanced search to find people with educational and work experience like yours to see where they work. For example, a programmer would use search keywords such as “Ruby on Rails,” “C++,” “Python,” “Java,” and “evangelist” to find out where other programmers with these skills work.
   
7. Make your interview go smoother.
   You can use LinkedIn to find the people that you’re meeting. Knowing that you went to the same school, plays hockey, or shares acquaintances is a lot better than an awkward silence after, “I’m doing fine, thank you.”
   
8. Gauge the health of a company.
   Perform an advanced search for company name and uncheck the “Current Companies Only” box. This will enable you to scrutinize the rate of turnover and whether key people are abandoning ship. Former employees usually give more candid opinions about a company’s prospects than someone who’s still on board.
   
9. Gauge the health of an industry.
   If you’re thinking of investing or working in a sector, use LinkedIn to find people who worked for competitors—or even better, companies who failed. For example, suppose you wanted to build a next generation online pet store, you’d probably learn a lot from speaking with former Pets.com or WebVan employees.
   
10. Track startups.
    You can see people in your network who are initiating new startups by doing an advanced search for a range of keywords such as “stealth” or “new startup.” Apply the “Sort By” filter to “Degrees away from you” in order to see the people closest to you first. [Republished from: Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn via "How to Change the World" -- Guy Kawasaki's blog]
    

Guy is known for bringing the concept of technology evangelism to the masses through his pioneering work at Apple’s Macintosh group. In addition to blogging the above post earlier this year, he has also blogged on topics ranging from LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover to LinkedIn and the Art of avoiding an Asshole Boss. [Source: Guy Kawasaki's weblog -- How to Change the World]